Dive Brief:

• Apple has been met with a wave of backlash over an ad promoting its latest iPad Pro model, billed as the thinnest product the tech firm has created to date.
• To emphasize the slimness, a new commercial, titled “Crush!” shows a menagerie of artistic works and tools, including sculptures, a piano, paints and a vinyl record player, getting crushed under a massive metal press. The final result is the iPad Pro, implying the tablet can contain all of those media capabilities in one sleek device.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook posted the video on X, formerly Twitter, where it has been met with a negative response, with many users perceiving the ad as hostile to art. The discussion of technology versus creativity has been heightened amid the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), an area where Apple is expected to make more concrete moves soon.

Dive Insight:

Apple’s latest iPad Pro, among its first new tablet model releases in two years, comes with a lot of bells and whistles. The device is the thinnest yet from the iPhone maker while also carrying its most advanced display and a hefty amount of computing power due to the new M4 chip, an evolution in Apple silicon. Online discussion isn’t focused on the cutting-edge aspects of the device, however, due to an ad that’s widely received the thumbs down on social media.

The ad was reportedly created in-house with production by Iconoclast and directors Vania and Muggia. Marketing Dive has reached out to Apple for comment on details behind the campaign, including its media plan and ad agencies, and will update this story pending a response. The ad also appears on Apple’s YouTube, where comments are turned off.

The video has been painted as the anti-”1984,” referencing an iconic Apple commercial that showed people freed from an Orwellian dystopia as the protagonist smashes the screen of their oppressor with a sledgehammer. That effort, which was directed by Ridley Scott and ran around Super Bowl XVIII in 1984, is considered one of the best TV ads of all time. 

Critics of the new iPad Pro spot conversely see a dystopian vision brought to life as a variety of tangible art objects are violently crushed into a single piece of technology. Responses to Cook’s X post, which had accrued over 49 million views at press time, underscore the frustration. Many creators and artists rely on Apple products for work, adding a sense of betrayal to some of their sentiments.

“I’m a creator, a traditional artist, a macintosh user of many years, yet I never even understand why would I need an iPad, and this destruction is extremely distasteful and would never convince me but otherwise,” wrote one user.

“It is a heartbreaking, uncomfortable, and egotistic advertisement. When I see this result, I'm ashamed to buy Apple products since nineteen years [sic],” wrote another.

Apple has also positioned the iPad Pro as an “outrageously” powerful device for AI. Creatives have expressed concerns that generative AI, which is trained on existing media, unfairly cribs from their work, and raised legal and ethical challenges against the technology. Apple has yet to meaningfully detail its generative AI plans but indicated it will share more news on that front in the near future. 

“I think AI, generative AI and AI, both are big opportunities for us across our products. And we’ll talk more about it in the coming weeks,” Cook said on a call with investors discussing Apple’s latest round of earnings last week. 

The iPad Pro ad’s backlash builds on a bumpy run for Apple. The company’s fiscal second quarter brought the sharpest drop-off in quarterly iPhone sales in years. Its tablet segment also struggled due to a lack of new releases, with revenue falling 17% year-over-year in the opening stretch of 2024. The Apple Vision Pro, an expensive mixed-reality headset that launched in February, has received an uneven response and also raised debate about enabling a disconnected future.